Syrian rebels said on Thursday they have growing confidence that their jihadist rivals will comply with a requirement to leave a demilitarized buffer zone set up by Turkey and Russia to avert a Russian-backed Syrian army offensive. Last week Turkey and Russia agreed to enforce a new demilitarized zone in Idlib province from which "radical" rebels will be required to withdraw by the middle of next month.

Pope Francis on Wednesday asked the Chinese government to move ahead with "trust, courage and farsightedness" to continue a dialogue started when the Vatican and Beijing signed a landmark agreement on the appointment of bishops. In a message to Chinese Catholics, Francis also said that while they should be good citizens, they will not shrink from offering "a word of criticism" when necessary to defend human dignity.

Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Church announced Monday the death of a newly transferred monk after a "sudden health crisis." In a statement published by its spokesman on Facebook, the Church said monk Zaynoun El-Makary died after he was transferred to St Maria Hospital in Upper Egypt s Assiut after a sudden decline in health.

Father Philotheos of St Macarius Monastery, who is currently standing trial in front of the Damanhour Criminal Court, charged with the murder of Bishop Epiphanius, has pleaded not guilty on Sunday. Philotheos and another Monk Isaiah, are accused of killing Bishop Epiphanius.

Egypt s Court of Cassation upheld the life imprisonment and death penalty sentences Monday handed to 135 people over the assaults on security forces in the town of Kerdasa in 2013. The court rejected the appeals presented by the defendants over a criminal court sentence from July 2017, which saw 20 defendants sentenced to death, life sentences handed out to 80 defendants.

An Egyptian criminal court sentenced the chief of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group and dozens of others to life in prison on Sunday on charges of incitement of murder and violence during protests five years ago, a judicial source said. The sentence is the latest among a series of trials and re-trials against the Supreme Guide of Egypt s Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie and other senior leaders of the Islamist group that ruled Egypt before Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted following massive protests.

A Turkish court has jailed pending trial 24 people involved in protests over work conditions at Istanbul s new airport last week, broadcaster CNN Turk said on Wednesday. The airport is a centrepiece of a 15-year construction boom under President Tayyip Erdogan. It has an initial planned capacity of 90 million passengers a year, making it one of the world s biggest airports.

Afghan police and volunteer groups of armed civilians tightened controls across the capital Kabul on Wednesday ahead of Ashura, the holiest day of the Shia Muslim calendar, following a series of attacks on Shia targets by Islamic State militants. Armed men stood at key points in areas like Dasht-e Barchi, a zone in western Kabul where many members of the mainly Shia Hazara minority live and where some 20 people were killed in a suicide attack on a wrestling club two weeks ago.

An agreement between Russia and Turkey over the northwestern province of Idlib has "practically excluded" a Syrian government offensive in the region, the spokesman for the opposition Syrian Negotiations Commission told Reuters on Tuesday. The "scenario of attack is practically excluded, at least for a period of time that is not small, and we hope that it will be permanent," Yahya al-Aridi told Reuters by telephone. Aridi said the deal announced on Monday had safeguarded the lives of millions of Syrians and was an indication that the "path of peace" must now be opened.

The Taliban launched multiple attacks on Afghan checkpoints as well as police and military bases in different parts of the country, killing at least 27 members of the security forces, Afghan officials said Monday. The attacks and the high casualty toll underscore the difficulties Afghan forces face in trying to secure the country on their own. The Afghan forces have struggled to combat both the Taliban and an Islamic State (IS) militants affiliate since the U.S. and NATO formally ended their combat mission in the country in 2014.

An Urgent Matter Court in Egypt has overturned a ruling allowing bearded policemen to return to the force, a judicial source told AFP on Thursday. The ruling, issued on Wednesday, came following a lawyer s appeal against an earlier ruling allowing bearded officers to return to work which was issued in July.

The Coptic Pope Tawadros II, of the Church of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, set off to the US for five weeks beginning on Thursday, to visit various churches and Eparchies in the northern states. Bishop of 6th October city and Oaseem city Domadius, General Bishop of Hadayk al-Qoba and al-Waili Churches Marcous, and Pope Tawadros s two secretaries Angelos Isaac and Ammonius Adel will accompany the Coptic leader on his visit.

Egypt s judicial Inventory, Seizure and Management Committee of Muslim Brotherhood Funds has ordered the seizure of 1,589 alleged Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters, 118 companies of different activities, 1,133 Non-Governmental Organizations, 104 schools, 69 hospitals, and 33 websites and TV networks. The seized money and assets, including those of ousted ex-President Mohamed Morsi, have been all transferred to the state s Public Treasury.

Saudi Police arrested an Egyptian hotel worker on Sunday following an online video of his breakfast with a female Saudi coworker in the hotel s reception area in Jeddah. The Saudi Public Prosecution stated that “Residents in the kingdom must commit to the orders, values, customs and feelings of the Saudi community.”

We have carried six dead people and 16 others injured. The death toll may rise," Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Amin Ambulance service, told Reuters. Al Shabaab - which is fighting to topple the government and establish its own rule based on its interpretation of Islamic law - said it was behind the attack.

The Azhar Institution and Azhar’s Global Center for Online Fatwa launched a campaign titled “Wa Ashrohn Belmaarouf” (Live Together Kindly) to prevent divorce and maintain the proper foundation for establishing a happy family. Azhar added that the campaign would release videos on common reasons for divorce and the best ways to avoid them on Azhar’s Official Pages, with the hopes to reduce divorce rates.

A suicide attack at a wrestling club in a Shia neighborhood of the Afghan capital Kabul and a second explosion apparently targeting emergency services and journalists killed at least 20 people and wounded 70 on Wednesday, officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Dasht-e-Barchi, home to many members of the mainly Shia Muslim Hazara ethnic minority which has been targeted in the past by Sunni militants of Islamic State group.

The US Embassy in Cairo announced on its official Facebook page that business was back as usual, following false concerns over a bomb attack earlier today. “Police have finished their investigations at the scene of the incident. The Embassy is resuming normal business,” the statement read.

Egypt s Defence Minister Mohamed Zaki inspected security units from the armed forces in North Sinai governorate on Tuesday, to follow up on developments in the Operation Sinai 2018, a counter-terrorism operation underway since February. As part of the completion of the planned stages of Operation Sinai 2018, Zaki inspected the implementation and development stages at the Armed Forces Operations Center.

The death toll from a Boko Haram attack on a Nigerian army post on the border with Niger has risen to 48, military sources said on Monday. Scores of Boko Haram fighters in trucks stormed the base on Thursday in Zari village in northern Borno state and briefly seized it after a fierce battle.

Defense attorneys for the main suspect, Ash eyaa al-Makary, in the murder of Bishop Epiphanius on Saturday demanded that the case be reinvestigated, claiming their defendant was forced into confessing. Public Prosecution charged monks Ash eyaa and Faltaous al-Makary (Raymon Rasmy Mansour) with premeditated murder.